Pick and pick mechanism



Nov. 30, 1954 J. FISHER 2,695,635

' PICK AND PIgm MECHANISM Filed May 11, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JOHN FISHER Nov. 30, 1954 J. FISHER PICK AND PICK uacwmrsu 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 11, 1953 IN V EN TOR.

QNNS.

JOHN FlsHe/e E/CHE WA rrs, 5 akrolvzm flaw/r HTTOENEJS Nov. 30, 1954 Filed May 11. 1953 J. FISHER 2,695,635

PICK AND PICK MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 30, 1954 J. FISHER PICK AND PICK MECHANISM Filed May 11, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 PICKUP i FEED B 4 F1 a 6 C 4 .D

/0 3 o z 1 [a FIG. 7 la O-c-0- .D 0

. .B 9 Fla. /0

o INVENTOR. JOHN /5HE BY PIC/{E 7 W4 ff; E

D6 eravzmsuur United States Patent Ofiice 2,695,635 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 PICK AND PICK MECHANISM John Fisher, Cleveland, Ohio, assigner to The Warner &

Svlvl'asey Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of i0 This invention relates to weaving, especially high speed weaving and has for its principal object enabling perfect cloth to be woven.

An object of the invention is to draw weft thread alternately from different packages in order to overcome the effect of changes in Weight or color of different portions of the weft thread in a single package.

Whenever a single source of yarn or weft thread is used in a weaving machine any variation in the yarn tends to appearas a bar or adefinite area in the finished cloth with the result that the cloth is imperfect and must be rated as second quality. When the variations in yarn corisist of differences in diameter of the yarnthroughout the yarn package, a smaller than normal diameter will result in a loose weave cloth while a larger than normal diameter will result in a tight weave cloth. There may be a variation as a result of a flaw in the preparation ,of the yarn such as a difference in the amount of twist in the yarn or the use of a different type of oil during some stage of the yarn preparation. Such differences in quality of the yarn tend in themselves to produce variations in appearance of the cloth. Moreover this type of difference varies the rate of absorption of dye by the yarn and results in different shades of dye color in the same yarn package.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to overcome the effects of various kinds of yarn variation and to alternate the yarn feed from different sources of Supply as the weft is laid intothe shed of the weaving machine.

A specifio objectof the lnvention is to provide an attachment for standard weaving machines of the gripper shuttle type which may be installed for enabling weft thread from two difiierent packages to be fed into the shed alternately without changing the general principle of operation or mechanical functions performed in other parts of the weaving machine.

It is an object to provide such an attachment which will permit standard shuttles with standard weir thread grippers to be employed and which will function with standard mechanism for opening and closing jaws in the weft thread feeders and for opening and closing the weft grip er jaws in the shuttles as the weft thread is presented to a shuttle bv' the weft thread feeder.

other and farther objects, features and advantages will become apparent as the description roceeds.

in the standard pickin iiiechanisni known to those skilled in the art the weft thread is presented to the shuttle by the thread feederwhieh travels back and forth between stations at which it presents the weft thread to the shuttle and at which it takes a new grip on weft thread from the supply spool or package. Asthe weft thread feeder presents the weft thread n the shuttle it releases the thread and shuttle jaws" are closed to rip the thread;

Thereafter the shuttle is fired er; ieked and the weft feeder moves forward and egrips the thread while it is being cut. when the weft feeder hasgripped the thread, it is returned to itsihitial position. This action is well known to those skilled in the art being described and explained for" example in Piar walier Patent #2578205.

In carrying out my invention in ccordance with a preferred form ihcgedf a longitudinally innvablc attachnieni plate is rovided carrying a pair of weft feeders rhennted side hySi d'e oil the plate A laterally movable sirpdrt for the plate is provided so as to bring one n the other (it the weft feedeisin thendrinal lincof shuttle movement and coo erating with the shuttle in the ndrinal "path of the standard machine. The two feeders, however,

are associated with separate packages so that,- when the feeder supporting plate is in one lateralposition, weft thread from one package is presented to the shuttle, and when the plate is in the other alternative position weft thread from the other package is presented to the shuttle. Suitable driving mechanism, synchronized] with the other movements of the weaving machine, isprovided for producing the lateral motion of the weft feeder-carrying attachment plate. Shuttles are picked in the usual manner, but theshuttles picked alternately carry weft from different packages. Therefore, I refer to my novel mechanism as pick and pick mechanism.

A better understanding of the invention will be afforded by the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a general front view of a weaving machine showing two separate weft thread packages, which may be used alternately (the front of the machine being the cloth-beam location where the operator stands);

Fig. 2 is a cr0sssection of the apparatus of Fig. 1 represented as cut by plane 2--2, as viewed from the right;

Fig. 3 is a view of the pick and pick mechanism viewed from the rear of the weaving machine with a guide member broken away in part; p

Fig. 4 is a side view of the mechanism of Fig. 3 with certain parts shown in section (as seen. from the leftend of the weaving machin of Fig. 1); i

Fig. 5 is a view of a sermon out by plane 55 represented in Fig'. 3;

Fig. 6 is a view f the apparatus showin the drive from the main drive shaft to a cam shaft and the drive for the pick and pick mechanism as viewed from the front of the weaving machine;

Fig. 7 is a side view of the drive mechanism which is used for driving the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3, as viewed from the left end of the weaving machine; and

Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are schematic diagrams illustrating the manner of operation of the pick and pick mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, in the form of apparatus shown by way of illustration, the weavingmachine comprises a upporting frame including a pair of side plates 121 and 122 (represented in Fig. 1) secured to cross members 123 and124, hown in e'r s's-sectionin Fig. 2. The weaving machine is of the gripper shuttle type as illustrated. In Fig. 1 there is visible a roll of Cloth 125 which has been wound on the cloth beam 126. There are heddle frames 1Z7 carrying heddles for theweaving machine. Shedding mechanism i enclosed within the housing 128 shown at the left in Fig. 1 and two stationary spools or packages 129 and 130 are provided for the weft yarns. The machine may be provided with shuttle picking, guiding and conveyin me hanism of the general type illustrated in Patents Numbers 2,160,338, 2,160,339, 2,136,703, 2,420,380 to Moe singer and 2,099,627 to Rossman, and Patent 2,514,152 to Darash.

In the apparatus represented in Fig. 1 there is an electric motor 131 for providing the driving power, which is adapted to drive the main shaft 33 through a suitable drive, such as a belt or chain drive 133. A hand wheel 136 may also be provided for the main drive shaft 33.

In order to facilitate rapid stoppage of operating parts of the weaving machine in case of thread failure or failure of some operative part of the weaving machine, an automatieally operating clutch and brake mechanism is also provided whieh is concealed within the drum 137, represented in Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 2, the weaving machine includes a warp beam 138,- the heddle frames 127 carrying he'ddle eyes 139, a picker box 141 including lay mechanism 142, and the cloth beam 126. There is a conventional supporting bar 143 carrying a plurality of drop wires 144 for an electrical stop mechanism responsive to failure of warp yarn, to stop shaft 145 represented in crosssection in Fig. 2 adapted to be actuated by any one of numerous stop motions, not visible in Fig. 2, including certain convolitional stop mechanism, not described herein, and a manual control Handle 146 fof staffing and stoppin the weaving machine. There is' a pivoted support for a whip rd11151.

.Dtiring the operation of the weaving machine the warp yarns or threads 152 are drawn from the Warp beam 138 over the whip roll 151 through the drop wires 144 and formed into a shed 153 by the operation of the heddles 127 controlled by the shedding mechanism 128. They are then drawn through the dents of a reed 154 carried by the lay mechanism 142 along conventional rolls 155 to the cloth beam 126 in the form of cloth 156. As in conventional gripper-shuttle weaving machines, the weft threads, thrown through the shed 153 to a receiving box 158 by the mechanism in the picker box 141 driven by a picker shaft 157 (see Fig. 6) geared to the main shaft 33, are heated in by the reed 154 to form the cloth 156. Shuttle guides 161 guide the shuttles through the shed 153. In order to avoid weaving defective cloth in the event of warp breakage, weft'failure, or other faulty operation and in order to guard against the weaving of numerous picks of cloth after such a defect has occurred as a result of the high speed of operation of the automatic weaving machine shown a suitable mechanism associated with the stop shaft 145 is provided for stopping the weaving machine as soon as a warp thread failure, weft fault, or some other failure takes place.

For returning the shuttles to the picker box after they have reached the receiving box, a conventional shuttle conveyor 147 is provided.

Within the picker box 141 there is conventional mechanism for elevating each shuttle in succession from the return conveyor to a position at which weft thread is presented to the shuttle. In the conventional mechanism there is a single weft thread feeder with jaws for holding the weft thread, and the shuttles likewise have jaws for holding the weft thread. Jaw-openers suitably synchronized with the shuttle conveyor, picking and beat-up operations, act to release the shuttle jaws to close them as the feeder jaws are opened. The operation of such mechanism is described in the aforesaid Pfarrwaller Patent No. 2,578,205.

In utilizing my pick and pick mechanism the same shuttle elevating, opening and closing, and feeder jaw opening and closing mechanisms are employed. However, in place of a plate having only horizontal movement for carrying a single weft thread feeder, I employ the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 3 including a depending plate or arm 10 supporting a pair of weft-thread feeders 11 and 12. As will appear, the plate 10 is movable both horizontally and vertically. Conventional means are employed for producing the horizontal motion; novel means constituting a part of my invention produce the vertical motion. As shown, the weft feeders 11 and 12 are of conventional form, each consisting of a pair of spring jaws normally springing together to hold the end of a supply of weft thread, one from the package 129, the other from the package 130 (Fig. 1).

Mechanism is provided for causing the weft-feeder arm 10 to follow a path illustrated in Fig. 8, with forward motion horizontally and return motion diagonally toward upper and lower positions alternately. This is done in order that one feeder 11 or the other 12, will follow the line -0 of shuttle travel, for first feeding the shuttle and then regripping the end of the weft thread.

For enabling the plate to execute the motion de scribed, there is a guide channel 13 secured to the plate 10 and a guide-way 14 is provided, in which the channel 13 may slide, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. For vertically moving the members 13 and 14, two racks 15 are secured to the guide-way 14 near the ends thereof. The central portion 16 of the guide-way member 14 is cut away to form upper and lower edges 17 and 18. An adjustable stop block 19 is provided, which is adapted to cooperate with the edges 17 and 18 for limiting the travel of the racks 15.

Gears 20, carried by a shaft 21, and meshing with the racks 15 are provided. As will be described more in detail hereinafter, means are provided for oscillating the shaft 21 to raise and lower the weft thread feeders 11 and 12.

In order that horizontal oscillation of the weft feeders 11 and 12 may be produced independently of the vertical movement, a guide-way plate 22 is secured to the plate 10, having a vertical groove 23 as illustrated in Fig. 5. Horizontally moving drive mechanism is provided including a nose 24 formed in an enlarged end 25 of a lever arm 26. The nose 24 cooperates with the vertical groove 23. A cam follower 27 is carried at the opposite end of the lever arm 26 (Fig. 6) for cooperation with a cam groove 28 in a barrel cam shaft 30.

Conventional feeder jaw' 'openers 31 and 32 are provided, which are secured'to transversely, horizontally moving mechanism, not shown, which operates in the same manner as in conventional weaving machines.

For driving the cam shaft 30 from the main drive shaft 33, gearing is provided, comprising a gear 34 keyed to the drive shaft 33, a gear 35 meshing with the gear 34, and a gear 36 keyed to the cam shaft 30 and meshing the gear 35.

For producing oscillation of the shaft 21 carrying the rack-operating gear 20, another cam mechanism driven by the cam shaft 30 is provided. There is a gear 37 keyed to the cam shaft 30 meshing with a gear 38, carried by a stub shaft 39. There is a lever arm 40 freely pivotal upon the shaft 30.

The lever arm 40 carries a cam follower 41 and has a transverse arm carrying a second cam follower 42. The cam followers 41 and 42 are on opposite sides of the arm 40. For positively driving the lever arm 40 through the cam followers 41 and 42, two cams 44 and 45 are secured to the stub shaft 39, on either side of the arm 40. A link 43 is pivotally secured at one end to the upper end of the lever arm 40 and at the other end to a gear segment 46, which is pivoted on a pin 47 and meshes with a gear 48, keyed to the shaft 21.

During the operation of the weaving machine a single pick of a shuttle takes place for each rotation of the main drive shaft 33. This action takes place through mechanism, not separately illustrated, within the picker box 141 (Fig. 2). Likewise for each rotation of the main drive shaft 33 a single beat-up motion takes place through the action of the reed 154 and the shedding mechanism produces an operation of the heddle frames 127 to produce a new shed 153 once for each rotation of the main drive shaft 33.

The gear ratio between the main drive shaft 33 and the cam shaft 30 is such that the cam shaft also makes a single rotation for each of the operations just described. This causes the oscillating lever arm 26 to pro- 29 mounted on a cam duce motion back and forth horizontally of the guideway 23 once for each rotation of the main drive shaft 33 in order that weft thread may be fed to a shuttle each time the shuttle is to be picked. I

As illustrated, the gear ratio between the cam shaft 30 and the stub shaft 39 is 1 to 2, however, so that two rotations of the cam shaft 30 are required for each rotation of the cams 44 and 45. Consequently, for each rotation of the main drive shaft 33 the link 43 is driven in one direction only, being driven forward for one pick and back for the next pick, and so on alternately. As shown in Fig. 7 the cam shape is such that for nearly one-half rotation of the cams 44 and 45, the cam followers remain stationary and through a small angle the cam follower drops or rises and then remains stationary again. Since the shaft 39 makes one revolution for two revolutions of the main drive shaft, the guideway 14 is lowered after one pick and raised after the next pick, the operation thus alternating indefinitely. The arm 10 carrying the two weft feeders 11 and 12 is therefore subject to the action of both the barrel cam 29 and the flat cams 44 and 45. The cam 29 operating at twice the speed of the cams 44 and 45. I

Referring to Fig. 8, the arm 10 is moved horizontally along the line AB by theaction of barrel cam 29 while the constant radius of the portion of the cams 44 or 45 is effective. Then on the return stroke while both sets of cams are effective, the arm 10 follows the diagonal path BD. On the next forward stroke the arm 10 is caused to follow the path DC; whereas on the return stroke the action of the cams 44 and 45 causes the arm 10 to be lifted simultaneously with the horizontal motion so as to follow the diagonal path CA.

Referring to Fig. 9 since the path of shuttle travel is along the line 00, when the arm 10 is in its upper position the lower feeder 12 is in the position to present thread to a shuttle 49. Accordingly at the point D the thread feeder presents the thread to the shuttle. As in the conventional mechanism, at this point the feeder-jaw-opener prongs 31 (Fig. 3) are inserted to release the thread from the feeder 12 as the shuttle jaw opener (not shown) is released to permit the shuttle jaws to grip the thread. Thereupon the shuttle is picked by the picking mechanism 141 which projects the shuttle through the shed 153.

Thereafter the thread feeder 12 moves from the point D to the point C as illustrated in Fig. 9. At this position the feeder-jaW-opener 32 (Fig. 3) is released by conventional mechanism (not shown) for gripping the weft thread an instant before the portion of the thread beat into the shed has been cut off by mechanism not here shown.

As the arm 10 moves from the point B to the point D the weft thread feeder 12 is moved out of the shuttle action line and the weft thread feeder 11 is moved into the shuttle action line 00 as shown in Fig. 10. This time the thread feeder 11 presents its thread to the next shuttle which has been brought into position by mechanism, not shown, and that shuttle is fired. Thereupon the thread feeder 11 travels from point D to point C to pick up the thread as in the previous case (see Fig. 11). However, since the feeder 11 holds Weft thread from the package 129 and the feeder 12 holds weft thread from the package 130 weft threads from different packages have been fed in succession. On the return stroke the arm moves from the point C to the point A and the weft feeder 11 is removed from the shuttle action line 00. Accordingly, the weft thread feeder 12 is again placed in its originalposition in the shuttle action line 00 as illustrated in Fig. 12, and the cycle is repeated. The cycles continue indefinitely with weft thread from the packages 129 and 130 being beat into the shed alternately.

In each case the weft-thread feeder 11 or 12 is in the same position in which the single Weft thread feeder of conventional machines would be for both the shuttle picking and the weft thread pick up positions so that the standard feeder opener and closer mechanisms 31 and 32 in their normal operating position may be employed and no change in the standard equipment is required in this respect. Likewise, whichever shuttle is to be picked is in the same position when the weft thread is presented to it as in the conventional apparatus so that the standard shuttle opening and closing mechanism for controlling the thread gripping jaws of the shuttle may be employed as in the conventional apparatus.

While I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form and as operating in a specific manner in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, it should be understood that I do not limit my invention thereto, since various modifications thereof will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexed claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Pick and pick mechanism comprising in combination with the cam shaft of a gripper-shuttle type weaving machine, a cam thereon, a pair of weft thread feeders, a movable supporting plate therefore carrying the feeders one above the other, a vertically moving horizontally extending guide-way, a guide channel secured to the feeder support cooperating with the vertically movable guideway, a horizontally movable vertical guide-way secured to the feeder support, a nose engaging said latter guide- Way, an oscillating lever secured to said nose at one end and carrying a cam follower at the other end, energizing said cam for producing horizontal motion of the feeder support, a stub shaft with reduction gearing between the cam shaft and the stub shaft for reducing the stub shaft speed to /1 of the cam shaft speed, and linkage between the stub shaft and the vertically moving guideway for raising or lowering the vertically moving guideway once for each two revolutions of the cam shaft whereby the weft feeders are alternately raised or lowered to the shuttle action line for presenting one weft thread or the other to a shuttle preparatory to picking.

2. In a weaving machine of the gripper shuttle type having mechanism for conveying shuttles to picking position in a line of shuttle motion and successively picking 1 the shuttles in the same direction, a pair of weft feeders mounted side by side and transversely movable, each associated with a different weft thread supply, and mecha- 6 1 nism synchronous with the picking mechanism for alternately moving the feeders into the line of shuttle motion for presenting weft thread to the shuttle.

3. In a weaving machine of the gripper shuttle type having mechanism for conveying shuttles to picking position in a line of shuttle motion and successively picking the shuttles, a pair of Weft feeders, each associated with a different weft thread supply, mechanism synchronous with the picking mechanism for alternately moving the feeders into the line of shuttle motion for presenting weft thread to the shuttle, a Weft feeder support for the two weft feeders carrying the weft feeders side by side, the feeder moving mechanism being arranged to move the feeders transversely back and forth so that first one feeder and then the other is in the line of shuttle motion.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 in which mechanism is provided for moving the feeders parallel to the line of shuttle motion between a feeding position and a weft thread pick-up position.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the shuttle-support moving mechanism is provided with linkage for moving the support back and forth in a direction parallel to the shuttle line of motion twice for each movement back and forth transverse thereto.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 wherein the linkage for moving the feeder support transversely to the line of shuttle motion includes cams with flat and sloping surfaces for causing the feeder supports to move forward from the weft feed to the pick up position in a straight line parallel to the line of shuttle motion and to recede along a diagonal line including a transverse component of motion.

7. In a Weaving machine of the gripper shuttle type in which the shuttles are projected along a pre-determined line of shuttle motion, in combination with a drive shaft, a pair of weft feeders, a weft feeder support to which the weft feeders are secured side by side, mechanical linkage interposed between the drive shaft and the weft feeder support for translating rotation of the drive shaft to oscillation of the feeder support parallel to the line of shuttle motion, and supplemental linkage between the drive shaft and the Weft feeder support. for translating the rotation of the drive shaft into oscillation transverse to the line of motion of the shuttles whereby the weft feeders are enabled to present weft thread to the shuttles alternately, each Weft feeder being associated with a different weft supply.

8. In a Weaving machine of the gripper shuttle type in which shuttles are projected in succession along a predetermined line of shuttle motion, in combination with a drive shaft, a feeder supporting plate, a pair of feeders mounted side by side on said plate, a guide-way secured to said plate extending transversely to the line of shuttle motion, a guide channel secured to said plate extending parallel to the line of shuttle motion, a guide-way movable transversely to the line of shuttle motion adapted to cooperate with said guide channel, linkage interposed between said drive shaft and said latter guide-way translating rotation of the drive shaft into transverse oscillation of the guide-way, a nose movable parallel to the line of shuttle motion engaging the first mentioned transversely extending guide-way, and linkage interposed between the drive shaft and said nose for translating the rotation of the drive shaft into oscillatory motion of the nose.

9. Apparatus as in claim 8 wherein reduction gearing is interposed in the first mentioned linkage for causing transverse oscillations of the feeder support to take place half as frequently as longitudinal oscillations thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,005,391 Pool June 18, 1935 2,152,255 Hefti Mar. 28, 1939 

